state of the union address. the president of the united states giving his 3rd address. bret and i take over at 8:55. join us then. we will see you later tonight. >> ♪ >> tucker: this is a fox news alert. big night. the president delivers the state of the union address an hour from right now. he hasn't departed the white house. we will have full coverage in this hour and throughout the night on fox. how will the president assess the state of the american union tonight? how would you assess it? peaceful and prosperous, thank god and honestly a little crazy. surreal at time. given what is happening in iowa hilarious. like the funniest thing anyone has seen. did you expect that liberals

were disorganized and incompetent and hate their dads and leave dirty dishes in the sink and have crumbs in their beds? that's worse. they are a disaster. the people who want to control your healthcare could not organize nap time for a six-year-old. what happens when you put them in charge of an entire caucus in iowa. first they play former hillary staffers $63,000 to develop a vote counting app that doesn't work. they elevate a 38-year-old finance puppet and pretend he is the front runner. if there is a short term winner in iowa it's probably pete buttigieg of south bend. the hand selected choice of democratic donors to fight the bernie sanders surging.

he didn't wait until the results were in to declare victory. he did that last. >> remembering how it felt to be an indiana teenager wonder figure he would ever be long in this world? he might not ever wear the uniform and might not ever know love. that person is standing in front of you. a mayor, and a veteran and happily married and one step closer to becoming the next president the united states. >> tucker: another child telling you how proud he is. last night warren claimed victory. in her speech she bragged about the illegal aliens her campaign

hired. >> tonight is for every undocumented organizer and volunteer who proudly knocked on doors to let the world know that the path to progress runs through courage and not fear. >> tucker: cliche confirmed. it is true that illegal aliens do the jobs that americans won't do. god speed to them. as long as they are not planning for long-term employment with elizabeth warren. the debacle last night was unnerving for the press. it's the home team they are covering. it hurts them personally. watch this. >> no results at all from the iowa caucus is a huge embarrassment for the iowa democratic party. >> was there selection

interference? did someone hack into the app. >> this is a disaster on every level. they botched it. >> has it been infected? we don't know that. >> when the results come out accident it will almost not matter because it will be under a cloud want what -- what about the people of iowa. >> the last person leaving des moines please turnout the lights. it hasn't been a success. >> tucker: oh, gosh. that doesn't sound good. how bad was it last night? chuck todd appealeded to god himself on area. >> we have to talk about the michael bloomberg factor. >> tucker: keep in mind things were not always this way.

for 50 years the iowa caucus ran smoothly using 19th century technology. paper ballots and phoned in the results. then the tech geniuses got involved and promised to make it easier and way more efficient like ipads will make your kids smarter. how did that work out? you can't complain about this in public, sill -- silicone valley who make our lives worse year by year. so they blamed the iowa voters. this was proof that iowa as a state should not be allowed to hold the first presidential congress anymore. the democratic leaders blew it and democratic voters must pay. they screw up, you get punished.

those voters we just shafted, they are racist! they deserve what they got. watch. >> 25% of the democratic voters are african-american and they are not really in the game. that's awful. you talk about voter suppression, jason is right. black people vote last. >> iowa is not representative of the democratic tent. that's the problem i have. if you look at the population it's about 90.7. >> why iowa in the first place? it's 90% white. >> 90% of the caucus goers today were white. it's skewed out of line. >> so the iowa caucus is the perfect example of racism. 91% of the voters in iowa are white. a drop this turnout, it could be that white children are not in the cages.

>> tucker: oh, man. you vote you were just voting. but were participating in systemic racism. thousands of these immoral voters spent the entire past year going door-to-door for their favorite candidate for free! because they cared. they are being denounced for rich people who is famous for not going to jail. why does everyone hate iowa? they are just forties. -- voters. they still believe it's a democracy and they are annoying and inconvenient. pete buttigieg and michael bloomberg, as if on cue, bloomberg announced he will double his daily ad spending.

nothing like a crisis to seize an opportunity. the anchors on cnn finally have someone to relate to. brit hume late on the set late last night. so many questions. why are they attacking the state of iowa and its voters who seem like some of the most sincere people? >> one reason is iowa turned into a rich state. so it's not a say the that the democrats have so much hope of carrying in the fall. the results in iowa have been alarming to the democratic establishment. bernie sanders may wind up with the most delegates and he won the popular vote but putnam may

get the most delegates. the chosen man of the democratic establishment joe biden got creamed it appears at this stage. the results would have to change dramatically for that not to be case. i don't think the democrats have a case against the state of ike. last night it was cold and spend hours at a caucus to persuade others to come their way. i think they deserve credit. >> tucker: i think they do. they are participating in a democracy and getting slammed by terry mcalliffe. biden dropped out in 2008 after getting creamed in iowa. what does this mean for him? where is he going forward? >> well, this a blow to him. he's been in the polling for the

longest time. he had a durable lead it seemed. no amount of verbal miscues and forgetting where he was seemed to shake that. now comes the actual votes cast and he comes in 4th. that was enough to knock him out of the race last time he ran for president. this is a real blow to him. this is a different era and time. he may recover but i would not bet on it. >> tucker: there are so many questions that arise from that. one is we have been told by the people on tv more months now he is the front runner. the man to beat. i think a lot of viewers believed him. how is he in 4th place all of a sudden? >> i think the race changed late and biden was not surging. his poll numbers were sinking

out there. elizabeth warren's have been too and it looked like buttigieg would do well and there was thought klobuchar would have a big night. that's not in the partial results. the big surprise is pete buttigieg. i think he is lighter than air, but pete buttigieg is the most talented politician in the democratic party since barack obama. he may be raw and young, but he will be around for a while. >> tucker: i believe that. if i am being honest, the same thing with obama. 1 of the best privilege people in our society telling us he is oppressed in a country where people can't pay for healthcare. too much. >> i don't think by that stuff either. one of the ways you get ahead in

the democratic party and get street cred is victimhood. the current democratic party if you are not a victim of something from our society, you lose ground. pete buttigieg said i am the most privileged by in the world and i want to thank my parents and the company that paid me a great salary, i don't think that would work in the democratic party. >> tucker: i would send him $100 for doing that. >> i ran into him in the hotel, if i know that, i would have done it. >> tucker: brit hume. thank you. donald trump campaign in 2016 and the bernie sanders campaign

were similar but there are differences. in 2016 he ran against the party of jeb bush and toppled it. trump pushed on a building and it fell over in a heap where it remains to this day. no one rebuilt it. when the sun rose or the wreckage, the trump movement was about a single man. the people who should have helped him to build a new party that represents the middle-class, decided to wait it out and reconstruct a carbon copy of the building he tore down. trump governed as he wanted

alone. bernie sanders himself in a different position tonight. sanders is an effective candidate for the same reasons trump was: he is not afraid to say it. trump had 5 years planning and organizing. -- bernie sanders. if sanders retired tomorrow they would keep going. it's not focussed on just winning the presidency but on governing the country. sanders voters are not embarrassed or afraid. no one is screaming at them in restaurants or punching them for wearing bernie sanders hats. they believe the future belongs to them. this gives them strength and makes them radical. he's are not teams who plan to

tinker with tax rates. they plan to remake american society. take an hour and read their program. planing to build a country you would not recognize. all of this terrifies the democratic establishment whose strategy is to weaken the country enough to dominate it. bernie sanders end to their grift. they sponsored one implausible candidate after another. mayor pete and now michael bloomberg. but it's ineffectual and doomed. it's the ghost of politic past. it's clear that democratic leaders can no longer lead. the harvard kids who ran the brilliant hillary campaign can't build a functioning voter app. no one will ever believe these people again.

that's a good thing. the problem is what comes next? richard is a lawyer and a long time advisor to bill clinton and hillary clinton. my heart broke a little bit for the democratic party. not something that happens off when i watched. these are the people who want to take over our healthcare and retrofit every building for the green deal and want control of my fire weres? i would not let them organize my kid's birthday party. -- >> not having caucus at all, we are stuck with them this year. they are the most undemocratic way to pick anything. you are off from work at that time and can spend as much time as it takes to be there.

democrats complain about voter suppression. that's exhibit-a, they would squawk about it. >> tucker: far be it for me to stand up for iowa democrats but they stand around in the snow for months on behalf of their candidates. yet we are taking them for being the wrong skin color or being old-fashioned? these people are heroic. >> there is a different between knocking on doors for your candidate and having a moment in time when you either have to be or you don't get to vote. that's a big difference. if iowa had a primary and not a caucus, the fact it's white and liberal, that didn't help joe biden. in the last fox poll was beating

trump by 9. >> tucker: i don't want to continue to defender the democratic system. why shouldn't our faith be shaken by last night. the geniuses from the hillary campaign. he can't build a stupid app to vote? why trust these people at all seriously? >> i can't defend the app. the people that got obama elected and got us to have the affordable care act, there are 20 million people who have healthcare as a result of that. >> tucker: really? i just talked to someone tonight who told me $800 a month to get coverage for 2 people. the affordable care act was supposed to fix that. it didn't. why are democrats ashamed of that? obama lied. it made it worse for a lot of people. that's not the republican's fault it's obama's fault. >> obama was not president in

2018 when the democrats flipped the house. >> tucker: wasn't obamacare supposed to fix these problems? they lied to us big-time. >> what happened in iowa last night goes against the grain of the democrats are being taken orchby the left. -- over by the left. they swamped the liberals. in a liberal state, more moderates voted. >> tucker: it doesn't matter. bernie sanders is your future. i will bet you $1,000. we will talk off line. i will visit you when you are being reeducated. when the iowa caucuses and the state of the union and impeachment, it's dead -- easy to forget about the deadly virus

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i'll pass. >> ♪ >> tucker: this is the fox news alert. live pictures of the white house door and the beast, the vehicle that the president and first lady will board. the president is meaning the coronavirus. every day is brings thousands of new deaths assuming the

communist country is telling us the truth. there evidence they are not. an american said china's government is under-reporting deaths and infections from the virus. there is a massive waiting list to be tested. patients not tested count as new infections and those who die before the coronavirus is confirmed are left off the death toll. they suggest that officials are sending bodies to be cremated without proper documentation to keep the official death toll down. the coronavirus is a very children and we should be vigilant as well. we have infections already in this country. college campuses are not worried and they believe any concern is a sign of racism.

cornell university, a student was tested at coronavirus after showing symptoms of the flu. a group of students said worrying about the coronavirus is bigotry. it would have been occurred without xenophobe ic visions of asian students. they are discriminated at cornell. if you are a chinese student it's much harder to get in. that's racism. none of the students in the justice for palestine organization say word 1 about them. if you are worried about the coronavirus, you are stoking the

yellow fears. should not be surprising. the coronavirus is concern to come up tonight in the president's state of the union address before congress. the white house press secretary stephanie grisham has deep knowledge of what the president will say. we spoke to her a moment ago. the coronavirus has received little attention in the press. my sense a lot of people are growing concerned about. >> the reason you are not hearing about it in the press because he took decisive action and empowered the agencies to get out and inform the public and work with the public and tell everybody what is going on and do everything they can to keep americans safe and contain it to the best of our ability. he's been pro-active and other

countries are following this lead. >> tucker: it's a long-standing tradition in washington to invite anchors for a preview of the state of the union. that happened today. we are getting reports tonight that some of what the president said was leaked by the people present which would be without precedent. is that true? >> that is true. i will go off on a tangent. it's a 20 year tradition that the president of the united states invites members of the media for an off the record lunch. he gave them almost 2 hours. he believed they were acting in good faith to tell them and answer any questions they asked. the president didn't eat his lunch because they asked so many questions and he answered every

one. now there are leaks from the room. no one is holding the press accountable anymore. it's so unfortunate, i think this will impact anymore off the record opportunities in our white house again. >> tucker: do you know who leaked this information and if you could tell us? >> i don't know. i would love to find out because i am very, very angry. the president didn't have to do this. he continued to be the most transparent the in the history of this country. for them to do this is unforgivable. >> tucker: next year? >> i can't speak for him. but i would advise against it. >> tucker: interesting. stephanie grisham, thank you very much for that. appreciate it. good to see you. >> thank you.

>> tucker: the white house press secretary. for update on the iowa voting debacle. >> we know who appears to be winning is pete buttigieg. followed closely by bernie sanders and followed by warren and klobuchar. the chairman of the iowa democratic party said have a phone app mal functioned. he said it's backed up on paper and it will be accurate. democrats are saying take time it make sure the numbers are accurate. >> mike: mike tobein thank you.

back to brit hume. the president and the first lady about to emerge to head on capitol hill. what is the purpose of the state of the union address? >> the purpose was to give the public the president's view of how things are going in the country. it was a written message for many, many years. it was woodrow wilson decided broadcasting was too good to pass up. no president has passed it up am and in the age of television everybody carries live. i thought covering it, it was the most predictable event the year. the only thing more predictable was the reaction to the state of the union address. here we are again. with trump you never know what will happen. there is no much division in our

politics that it's acquired more suspense than it would normally have. tonight he will get up and make the case for himself with his catalog of achievements which is not brief. a lot of things have been done under him. for all of the criticism of him, he got a lot done. we will hear about that and we will see whether he is as restrained he told everybody he would be or if he takes shots at his many critics. >> tucker: stephanie grisham just said about the off the record lunch the president has with broadcast news anchors. it's not supposed to leak and it did in great details. you attended that lunch. what do you think of the leaking? >> well, i think the leaking is

improper and contributes to the distrustful atmosphere between the media and the people serving in government. it's our job as journalists to be skeptical but fair. if we sit down to an event under terms we agreed to, it's our obligation to stick to those terms. it's not good enough to say i wasn't at the event and other reporter told me about so i can use it. in my view that is not proper. it's not proper for a member of the press in the event to tell some other reporter it. that's foul play. >> tucker: it will end the institution. brit hume. stay with us. appreciate it. go now to former senator jeff sessions of alabama running for senate in his home state. thanks for coming on. as we wait for the president and

his wife to emerge, what do you think the president wants to say to the country? >> celebrate the great achievements. he has every right to do so. he maid a number of promises. he achieved so much even under attacks. i will say this. one of the reasons he's been under so much personal attack is because the democrats are terrified of his agenda. he is bringing in new voters that we have not seen before in the republican party and holding a republican vote. you have 100 americans and ask should we defender the united states manufacturing on the world stage? are we being cheated? they would say yes in big numbers. are we in too many wars?

he is bringing in new voters, democrats and independents. it's historic. >> tucker: something that adam schiff predicted recently. he said the president is not removed during impeachment this might happen. >> if abuse of power is not impeachable even though the founders considered it the highest of all high crimes and misdemeanors, then a range ever unacceptable conduct in a president would be beyond reach. trump could offer alaska to the russians for support in the next election. >> tucker: do you think the president will sell alaska to the russians? >> i doubt. we could give them adam schiff.

>> tucker: the president and his wife headed to capitol hill. what did it tell you that adam schiff is not a minor figure in the democratic party and a hero to msnbc and cnn viewers. suggesting the president might sell alaska to the russians suggests should go may not be right with him? >> it's the bogusness of this. the american people said is that all there is? the actions were nowhere close to impeachable. the president should never be removed for such things as this. the house delayed sending it to the senate. perhaps that resulted in it

happening right before the state of the union or afterwards. i think is an unhealthy thing. we as serious people in america need to protect our law, culture and traditions and this impeachment process was way off. >> tucker: yes. if the president loses alaska in november believe adam schiff. thanks and great to see you tonight. >> thank you. >> tucker: they are becoming more desperate and in a recent view with sean hannity, the president joked about michael bloomberg's najaf -- that polian

statue. >> he wants a box for the debates. that's okay. >> tucker: joking. cnn did not find it funny and made that the weekend's most important stair. -- story. cnn gave coverage to the president's conspiracy theory. >> bizarre conspiracy theory that michael bloomberg could stand on a box. >> there is no evidence that bloomberg is askinging to stand on a box. >> the president is obsessed with michael bloomberg talking about how tall he is. -- asking. >> some candidates do stand on boxes. >> tweeting mini-mike wants

boxes to stands on. >> do we just make fun ever other people? >> he called him mini-michael bloomberg and suggested a conspiracy theory with the dnc to stand on a box during the debate. we have no evidence that is true. >> tucker: they spent all weekend calling michael bloomberg a midget. i know they want to help bloomberg. is that helping. they were not the only ones that were not amused. last week greg gutfeld that impeachment was embying the president is so much dragon blood we might be able to cure diseases. >> he will probably cure the coronavirus and make china pay

for it. >> tucker: they didn't laugh and produced a fact check for greg gutfeld's claims. >> [laughing]. they called fox for comment! [laughing]. are you aware, this is so and so from news week. greg gutfeld said that donald trump will cure the coronavirus and make china pay for it? why are you wasting our time with this you, you weirdos. when we were kids in grade school, you did book reports on articles in "newsweek." read this and come tell us what you think. now "newsweek" writers are doing book reports on me and you. [laughing]. they have -- it's not just "newsweek" and it's the daily

beast. imagine 4 kids in class sharing notes. they have to watch beautiful people like you and me and sit there and make $35 a post. did tucker say something? he was joking. if you are joking, it's not a story. you treat the joke as though it's serious, that's the story! what they did the coronavirus statement. they cut it off. i said trump could cure the coronavirus and make china pay for it. then everybody would see it's a joke. they dishonestly did that. every article on it was the same. which meant that none saw the video or the show. they looked at each other's posts. i find this entertaining. fox news has created by

extension a barnacle industry. it emply -- employs website that sit and watch us. appealing people like you and me might screw up. see, they are failures. if you are writing this book report stuff. you don't want your kid to do that kind of job. they sit there and look at you and me. i have to bring kill he down and tomorrow tucker and then lou dobbs. they write it and it's re-tweeted. that's their thing. it's saddam's. -- it's sad. i blame finance. if you wind up at cnn writing

garbage like this, it's sad. cnn employs 2 people just to watch folk. [laughing]. -- fox news. i might be making that up. i don't know that. they are book ends. they watch us and get very stern. over at fox news -- when i so cnn, that's the most people that will see cnn. do we have time to talk about the box? >> tucker: the 15 second box. >> trump didn't ask about the box. he said is it fair only he has a box? the assumption is there is already a box. is it fair that others don't have boxes?

this is inequality. so he has people believing there is a box. he said is it fair? we don't deserve donald trump. not in that way. >> tucker: greg gutfeld. >> thank you and love you. >> tucker: the president's motorcade en route to capitol hill. there is the motorcade right the there. we saw the first lady and president depart the white house. most reporters in the room already have a cop of the speech. they don't how people in the room will interact with each other and the president. -- copy. we are still remembering nancy pelosi's awkward clapping at the moment that the president called for rejecting the politics of

revenge. congress did not take the president's suggestion over the last year. revenge driven politics was the defining feature this year. will the president clap back at pelosi? the president on his way to the capital right now. he will delivered the starched. -- state of the union. then the democrats will have their response. the person who delivers the party's response is considered an emerging leader. someone you need to pay attention to. this year it's the governor of michigan, gretchen wilmer. she would like to abolish all immigration enforcement.

>> i think that "ice" was doing a cruel thing. >> we should abolish "ice"? >> yes. >> thank you. >> tucker: that's gretchen wilmer. she may be a star after tonight. delivering the state of the union address hasn't always been the career boost you might expect. we are joined by lisa booth. >> hi, tucker. >> tucker: gretchen wilmer i don't think will explain how allowing more low wage foreign wokkers into michigan will help laid-off auto workers. tell me about what this could do to her career? >> you see why they chose her. she won in 2018.

if michigan. -- in michigan. she won by 9% points. it's a mixed bag to comment after the state of the union response. the president's approval rating is the highest of his presidency. people are happy. it will be hard to make that argument. you can go back to the 2019 response from stacy abram. i don't think she capitalized off. democrats hope would she would run in 2020. she said she would not. she wants to be president by

2040. >> tucker: a question about tonight. do you think it's possible, you probably don't have a copy of her speech but that governor gretchen wilmer will say that putin will get alaska. is that something we will bring up? >> i don't think so. look, the challenge democrats face with president trump which things are going so well, you mentioned nancy pelosi's response. you can any back to joe kennedy response in 2018. he set social media ablaze.

people didn't know if he was drooling or it was chap stick. or 2013. >> tucker: that's happened to me. >> or rubio needed a sip of water. . >> tucker: it's not a path to the presidency? >> certainly not. nikki haley comes to mind. when she was governor of south carolina and ended up being the u.n. ambassador. there are people that have capitalized but it's just not demonstrated that is the pathway to stardom within your party. >> tucker: if anyone is going to capitalize it would be nikki haley. the president i believe has

arrived in the chamber. this is the vice-president and the speaker of the house. we have not seen the president but he is in the room. brit hume is still with us. do you find it interesting that the rest of us are glued to the bodiy language in the room. can that tell us anything? >> if the president gives a low-key speech and promised that, i don't know what will happen. we probably won't have the deeply partisan moments. there is no guarantee. it's interesting to. wathe members of congress who complain with a particular president and as he is making hus way down the aisle to go up

to the lectern to make his talk, they are trying to reach out and shake hands with him. we understand that rush limbaugh will be there tonight after finding out he is ill can lung cancer and i am told the president will award him the presidential medal of freedom. it will be hard for liberals in the chamber to cheer rush limbaugh who invented modern conservative talk radio and is hated almost as trump is by many on the left. that's a moment worth watching. >> tucker: it's interesting how presidents pick who stand with

him. do we know anything else who might be there? >> they gave us a sheet and i read the list and forgot it. people will represent the constituences that trump will claim he helped or wants to appeal to. that's part of the drama the state of the union who the president points to with pride. it started when ronald reagan honored scutnick who jumped in the river to save lives in the plane crash right here in washington. since then other presidents thought that was a pretty cool thing to do and a number of guests they recognized multipied. we will see a watch tonight. >> tucker: at a time when so many of our rituals are falling away.

it is still an important ritual in the left of the country. >> it is. it's one that nahs organizations feel obligated to cor. -- to cover.eqws organizations feel obligated to cor. -- to cover.ws organizations feel obligated to cor. -- to cover. it's a potential huge audience. now they introduce dignitaries. here come the members of the supreme court led by the chief justice who spent 12 days presiding over the presidential impeachment. >> tucker: mike emanuel is standing by. >> fascinating here. watching the dignitaries come

through. vice-president pence and mcconnell and then chuck schumer. and some senators walking in with a member of the other party. michael bennett the presidential candidate came from colorado. he is going to new hampshire after a lack luster performance in iowa. we have seen the chairman of the joint chiefs go through. one of the more awkward moments was vice-president pence standing next to house speaker nancy pelosi. not a lot of chitchat. rush limbaugh is here and will receive the medal of freedom. our colleague chad caught up with him. he was in awe about this news. said he was feeling good and was in depend spirit. he also spoke to jared kushner. a lot of chitchat and great people watching. >> tucker: mike emanuel thank you. it's it for us tonight.

special live coverage of the state of the union starts rights now on fox news. >> [crowd noise]. >> sean: we are minutes away from the president's state of the union. it's a big moment for this president with an impeachment vote looming and president trump looking ahead to 2020. i am bret baier. >> i am martha maccallum. >> bret: the speech will be low-key. usually these are wish lists for what a president wants